Brick by Brick

JPII Lyceum?

It's been a long-time desire of mine to teach philosophy since taking my Master's degree in the subject from Boston College. This current year, with the addition of Introduction to Western Philosophy to the JPII curriculum, I get my chance and am having a blast.

The value of philosophy was reinforced at a forum on education recently sponsored by the Community Leadership Institute. Three school leaders, Maureen Brenner from Riverview School, Eric Heiser from Sturgis Charter Public School, and myself, presented about our schools, personal histories, and views on leadership. Turns out that philosophy, whether in the form of high school level courses such as ours or the personal histories of the presenters, became a recurring theme and a subject of dialogue amongst us. This is further evidence that the habits of thinking and speaking so important to philosophy can reap life-long rewards and animate our adults lives no matter our work area. Here's hoping that more and more JPII seniors tackle this challenging and rewarding activity.

Check out a sample reading from Introduction to Western Philosophy here.

Noblesse Oblige

"To whom much is given, much is expected" was the message at Pope John Paul II High School this morning during the first-ever induction ceremony in the Our Lady, Star of the Sea Chapter of the National Honor Society. Thirteen juniors and sophomores were inducted into the prestigious society based on their demonstration of the virtues of scholarship, leadership, caracter, and service. On behalf of the entire faculty I congratulate the newly inducted and their families for this imporant accomplishment.

View Ceremony Program here:  NHS Induction program 2010

Mr. Keavy's remarks here: Remarks by Mr Keavy

 

Good Report Card

2009 PSAT and Iowa Tests resuts are in. Check out the school snapshot here.

Getting Out of the House

Right from the start I've set a high priority on participating in interscholastic contests and competitions. By "getting out of the house," so to speak, we challenge our programs and create an avenue to validate our accomplishments. For example, last year, JPII students fared well in regional art competitions and essay contests and consequently gave us good feedback about our programs.

The National Math League annually sponsors a high school contest in advanced algebra and geometry. The top five scores of a participating school are reported and shared by region -- in our case, the New England Mathematics League. In the November 2009 contest, JPII scored well -- 20 points out of a possible 30 and right in the mix with other Catholic high schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, area public charter schools, and strong public high schools. Check out the scores here.

But here's the thing -- we don't have seniors yet. Looking forward to next year!

2009 JPII scorers are Matthew Brown (5 points -- top scorer), Kaitlyn Riley (5 points -- top scorer), Thatiana DeAndrade, Michael Koval, and Kallie Writenour. Special thanks to Mr. Gaudet, Mathematics Dept. Chairperson, for organizing the contest.

Testing 1,2,3....Testing 1,2,3

Often I'm asked about JPII test scores and where the school stands relative to students across the country. In the absence of MCAS results, all JPII students take Iowa Tests and the PSAT to provide valuable feedback to the individual student and family as well as give a snapshot of school performance.

At this point we have the beginnings of a data trail. Iowa and PSAT tests were taken in October, 2009 and results are expected in December, 2009. Download JPII report card 2009 here.